The next day, Lin Gui woke up.
He was lying on the sofa with a blanket covering him.
His clothes were still there, and his mage robes were neatly wrapped around him.
Lin Gui stared blankly for a few seconds before letting out a long, slow breath.
His innocence was intact.
He sat up and rubbed his forehead, which was still throbbing.
Recalling the events of last night, he didn't know how to express his feelings for a moment.
Who would have thought he would be knocked out by a companion for a second time?
He was heavily injured, and instead of thinking about looking after him, that girl was thinking about sleeping with him.
Was it possible that the greatest danger on this journey was actually the companion by his side?
I treated you all as companions, yet all of you always want to sleep with me?
On the other side of the room, the sound of someone turning over came from the bed.
Elvia hadn't slept at all.
She lay on her side, staring at the light filtering through the gap in the curtains.
A mess of thoughts had been racing through her mind all night long.
She had thought about many things.
Lin Gui could indeed solve her need for material comforts and her desire for safety.
As long as she followed him, money wouldn't be a problem, and neither would safety.
But...
His identity was too terrifying.
So terrifying that, for a moment last night, she had wanted to simply walk away.
If she became substantially involved with him, and if he were to die at the hands of his enemies...
Then she wouldn't live long either.
To think that merely sleeping with him and having a physical relationship would link her life to his.
Was that too much of an exaggeration?
No.
As a former member of the upper class of the Carter Royal Capital...
Elvia knew very well that it wasn't an exaggeration at all.
If it were anyone else, it wouldn't mean much.
But as fate would have it, the man in question was Lin Gui.
The man who intended to ignite the Spark Revolution once again.
Anyone tainted by that revolution, which sought to shake the very foundations of the city-state system, would be hunted relentlessly by the Alliance at any cost.
They would hunt down everyone associated with it.
And against their pursuit, there was simply nowhere to hide.
Interrogation? Tracking?
No.
They only needed to employ soul mages.
Through divination, soul tracking, and bloodline tracing, they could find the target's blood relatives, family members, and...
The women they had slept with.
When they joined together, their souls began to intermingle.
A connection would subsequently form, one that only soul mages could see.
And they could follow that connection to find those associated with the target.
That was why Lin Gui had warned her not to cross the line.
Should he fail, Elvia had no doubt.
Even if she hadn't substantially helped Lin Gui in his revenge...
Even if she had only slept with him once and then cut all ties to become a stranger...
Even if she fled to the deep mountains of the far north to hide...
The Black Dragon Army would cross tens of thousands of li to find her and send her to the gallows.
This was no joke; it was a proven fact.
After Lin Gui left the Carter Royal Capital, she had made a deliberate effort to learn about that revolution that had shaken the entire continent.
And the Alliance Council seemed to have no intention of hiding it, likely as a warning to others.
As a result, she saw the records of that purge, which could only be described as hellish.
The scope of the purge wasn't limited to the three revolutionary cities.
It encompassed the entire Akara Continent.
Anyone who had any connection to those three cities, even if they were in a city-state tens of thousands of li away that was as remote as could be, would be hunted down by the Black Dragon Army.
They would then be sent to the pyre.
In the three cities of the Spark Revolution, a million people died.
And the number of those who were killed by the fallout was far more than a million.
She remembered that even the pleasure houses of the time had been completely wiped out.
Apparently, it was because people from Spark had once enjoyed themselves there.
Consequently, all the prostitutes who had served them were marked as associates.
They were then heartlessly sent to the gallows.
As the sole survivor of that revolution, Lin Gui knew the terrifying and cruel nature of his opponents better than anyone.
Yet, he still intended to raise the Spark once more.
Elvia didn't know where Lin Gui got his confidence from.
But last night, when she recalled the hellish scenes she had read about in the reports, she admitted she was afraid.
He couldn't guarantee her safety.
Because he himself was a moth flying into a flame.
How could a single High Rank mage shake the massive Alliance that consolidated the power of every apocalyptic city-state?
Lin Gui was destined to pay for his reckless revenge with his life.
And following him, binding herself to him, would only lead to a dead end.
Elvia was certain of this.
The sound of rustling came from nearby.
Elvia turned her head.
Lin Gui had already put on his mage robes and was holding his oak staff, preparing to leave.
She hesitated for a moment, a fear of being abandoned surging in her heart. She cleared her throat and asked, "Um... where are you going?"
Lin Gui turned and looked at her.
"To heal my body."
"And I also intend to establish a post office in Dragonbone City."
He looked through the balcony toward the Dragonbone Mountains, which towered into the clouds in the distance.
"It... will likely be a somewhat larger post office."
Having said that, he looked at Elvia and suggested, "I'll be staying in Dragonbone City for a long time."
"Use this time to think carefully about your future."
"Elvia."
Elvia gave a bitter smile.
"Are you really being this heartless?"
"After all, I gave my first kiss to you last night."
"And besides, we've shared the bond of companions for a while now."
"You even risked your life to enter the Dark Tide to save me."
Lin Gui countered, "Then do you want to cross the wilderness and deliver letters with me?"
"On the road to Avalon, there are places like the Silent Sea and the Wall of Sighs—forbidden zones of fearsome renown."
"They are far more terrifying than that little forest you carried me through when we escaped."
"Theia, the Saintess, and I nearly died there several times as well."
"And the danger of my next delivery route even exceeds that of going to Avalon."
He paused for a moment.
"For instance... the Red Clay Desert."
Elvia's pupils shrank.
The Red Clay Desert was the most terrifying Forbidden Zone east of the borderlands.
Even among Forbidden Zones, it held an extremely fearsome status.
Elvia asked in confusion, "How are you going to deliver letters in a place like that?"
If she remembered correctly, there were virtually no living people there.
Lin Gui chuckled.
"That is my personal secret."
He wasn't going to the Red Clay Desert to deliver letters.
His true ultimate destination was to pass through the Red Clay Desert and return to Caran City.
He needed to confirm the situation in Caran City.
He also needed to figure out how it had survived despite being so close to the core of the Dark Tide breakout.
Was it possible that there was also a Catriona buried beneath it?
Caran City was vital to his revenge.
If possible, he hoped his original revenge plan, which was based in Caran City, could be carried out normally.
And to return to Caran City now, the only route was to travel east and circle around the Magic City, then head west through the Red Clay Desert.
He would follow the same route he had taken years ago to reach the Magic City, returning to New Covenant and then to Caran.
This was the only possible route back to Caran City.
The borderlands and Dragonbone City were separated only by the Dragonbone Mountains.
However, the height of the Dragonbone Mountains effectively handed down a death sentence to anyone attempting a crossing.
That height far exceeded the limits of the flight restriction zone.
Moreover, the Dragonbone Mountains were exceptionally narrow and long, stretching almost all the way to the City of a Thousand Towers.
The western route that normally allowed entry into the borderlands was currently flooded by the Dark Tide.
Even after the Dark Tide receded, it would take several months for the path to clear.
Therefore, if he wanted to return to Caran, he had to retread the path he had once traveled.
Lin Gui looked at Elvia.
"Think it through properly."
"Following me will only lead you into even greater danger."
"With your own abilities, you can live quite comfortably on your own, Elvia."
He turned, pushed open the room door, and walked out.
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